


We're All Missing Something

by sherlockpond



Category: Captain America (Comics), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Assembly, Better than it sounds, Bucky Helps A Kid, Bucky's a Cutie, Bullying, Crying Kid, Cute, Elementary School, Fluff, Heart Warming, I'm going to have to stop soon, I'm running out of ideas, Kissing, M/M, One-Shot, Pride, Probably a little OCC, Prostetics, Publicity, Steve and Bucky Would Be Great Parents, Teaching, Tony's Reluctant, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Visiting A School, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 21:46:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1444030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlockpond/pseuds/sherlockpond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avengers get roped into doing a talk at an elementary school by Fury. But as the talk goes on Bucky notices an upset kid who rushes out, so he goes after him, wanting to help. After all, that's what Steve would do.<br/>As it turns out, Bucky has more in common with the kid than he'd first realised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We're All Missing Something

**Author's Note:**

> Um, so hopefully this will be my last fic for a while, I'm spurting out Stucky and I think it's boring you all so I'm going to reign myself in and stop posting so much. I love writing but it feels like I'm taking over.
> 
> As y'know: Not mine. Not American. Not the owner of SebStan's little tush. All mistakes are my own.
> 
> I'd like to dedicate this one to Katherine (my beta and friend),  
> She's just read Agents Of SHIELD Spoilers and now is deeply regretting it.  
> I hope this takes your mind off it!  
> Nx

Fury had managed to somehow get them into yet another terrible situation. The entire Avengers team had to trundle down to an elementary school in a small community, in New York City, in order to help Nick repay a debt to an old friend (an ex- SHIELD agent) who just _happened_ to be a teacher now.  
  
Tony had been annoyed, to say the least, and managed to get in "What part of my suit is a toy?" And both Natasha and Clint were equally as displeased as Stark, commenting how their job wasn't exactly child-friendly.  
  
Steve (and Bucky, on a smaller scale) felt like it was part of their job, Steve was used to talking to crowds from the tours he did in his early Captain America ‘Mascot’ days, adding "it would be a privilege," to which he got rather disparaging looks from the rest of the team.  
  
"I know it's not the best situation," Fury had apologised loosely "but you don't have to stay long and we'll have back-up if need assistance. I just need you to show up, give a speech about something or other and then leave,"  
  
Reluctantly, they all agreed.  
  
They all had their own piece to say; Tony would talk about being safe around technology; Banner about how chemicals should be left alone in the kitchen cupboard; Natasha about self-defence and how to stay alert if you're at a park; Clint talked about the importance of sports and Steve talked about teamwork and how no one could get anywhere without being kind to others.  
  
Although Bucky didn't need to go (not being a pure Avenger), he liked to give Steve the encouragement that the others wouldn’t, as they all tittered at his enthusiasm, Bucky found it endearing that his boyfriend cared about how the next generation were influenced.

* * *

 

  
When they arrived they all got into their gear, Tony opted for more casual look (after some negotiation with Fury about the Iron Man suit), none of the others minded; they weren't the ones carrying a ridiculous amount of metal on their bodies.

Steve turned to Bucky and asked for his opinion as he finished getting into his uniform.  
  
"You look great, Stevie, as always," Bucky replied naturally, before winking and turning on his 1000 watt smile.   
  
Steve's cheeks grew warm and he coughed, trying to expel all of the tension from his body, they’d agreed not to kiss, they were among children and Steve had a tendency to get over-enthusiastic.  
  
"Okay, let's do this," Steve said, pumped, before leaving his make-shift classroom/ dressing room and heading for the assembly hall where the rest of his comrades were waiting.   
  
Bucky slowly folded Steve's clothes up and made his way after him, interested as to how it would all go.  
  
"As ever kids, stay safe online! There's loads of bad people out there, so keep vigilant!" Tony finishes and the children look unimpressed "oh and I might have some candy for you all, if you sit and listen to the others nicely," he added casually and there was a gasp of excitement before he let the next Avenger say their piece.  
  
Bucky noticed a boy on the other side of the hall; sitting on a chair amongst the teachers in comparison to all of the other children who were sitting on the floor.  
  
The boy looked upset, but refused to cry, leant over to the nearest teacher, clearly asking to go to the restroom. The teacher nodded and the boy slowly got up and walked- with a slight limp- out of the hall discreetly.  
  
Bucky watched as the door closed and the window showed the little boy wiping tears off his face.  
  
He thought about what Steve would do and quickly left the hall, not alerting any of the staff, but working on his own gut feeling.  
  
He found the kid sitting in an unused classroom, his head in his hands, perched on a small desk. Bucky entered the room slowly, barely making any noise.  
  
"Hey, kid, what's up?" He asked, the boy visibly jumped and his wide eyes locked onto the older man.  
  
"You're....," he started, dumbstruck.  
  
"Yeah, not an Avenger," Bucky said jokingly.  
  
"...my favourite superhero," the boy finished, wiping the cold tears off his blotchy face.  
  
Bucky smirked a little "Really?" He asked, a sliver of pride in his chest.  
  
"Yeah, I mean you're awesome! You've got a cool outfit and super strength!" The boy perked up a little, but the occasional tear escaped his small eyes.  
  
"Then why are you crying?" Bucky asked, leaning on the desk opposite.  
  
"Well, it's just there's no hope I could ever be a superhero," he said, sadly.  
  
"Why not? Come on, what's your name?" Bucky replied, trying to help.  
  
"Findlay," the dark-haired boy responded, flattening his hair in a vain attempt to look more presentable.  
  
"So why do you think you can't be a superhero?" Bucky enquired "you can tell me, I'm awesome at keeping secrets,"  
  
Findlay giggles a little and then his expression turns serious.  
  
"I'm not like everyone else," he murmurs slowly  
  
Bucky's intrigued, he leaned forwards a little.  
  
"Why not?"

  
"I'm defective; that's what the others call me," Findlay sniffed  
  
"What?" Bucky pulled back, anger boiling in his stomach, ready to go up on that stage and tell those kids a thing of two about bullying.  
  
Slowly Findlay reached down to the hem of his pants and pulls it up to his knee. He has a prosthetic leg up to his kneecap, Bucky internally hits himself, of course this kid would be on a chair, have a slight limp and idolise the only imperfect superhero to ever exist.  
  
"I like you because you're not like the rest of them, but I haven't got a bionic arm like you," Findlay explained, not looking up at Bucky, not wanting to meet his eyes “when I was born, I didn’t have part of my leg,”  
  
"Kid, look at me," Bucky instructed "those kids are jerks, don't listen to them, clearly they don't understand how this kind of thing makes you special and more individual,"  
  
"I don't like being individual," Findlay muttered bitterly.  
  
"But it's what part of what makes you, you," Bucky explained putting a large hand on the kids shoulder.  
  
"Can I see your arm?" Findlay asks cautiously.  
  
"Of course you can, kid," Bucky rolled up his plaid sleeve and let the kid examine his arm. He'd never seen so much awe in his expression.   
  
"I wish I had a prosthetic as cool as yours," Findlay said enviously.  
  
Bucky has an idea, and he smiled widely, before he turned to Findlay "I reckon Stark owes me a favour or two, let's see if we can work something out, eh kid?"  
  
Findlay's face exploded with happiness "Really?!"  
  
"Yep, come on, dude, let's go and see what we can do," Bucky replied, holding out his warm hand to the boy who took it gratefully.  
  
By the time they got to the assembly hall the speeches were over and the team were sat on the edge of the stage, dressed casually once more, and talking amongst themselves. Steve smiled at his partner and got a wink back in return.  
  
"What going on, Ken Doll?" Tony asked, chewing on some gum.  
The younger man rolled his eyes.  
  
"I need to talk to you, Stark," Bucky said, determined "Findlay, if you stick with these guys, they'll look after you till we get back," he explained, gesturing to the rest of the Avengers.  
  
"You want me to hang out with the Avengers?!" Findlay practically squealed, excitement colouring his face.  
  
"That's exactly what I want, ask 'em anything you like," Bucky said, before he patted the boy on the back, silently nodding to Steve to make sure at least one of them would keep the kid safe.  
  
Bucky then gestured to Stark seriously "Let's talk outside. We got things to discuss,"  
  
Tony raised his eyebrows and shrugged at the rest of them before following the 95-year-old out of the hall.  
  
"So, Findlay, tell us about yourself," Bruce said after a few moments of silence.  
  
"Findlay?" Steve asked, worried by the lack of response.  
  
The boy just stood wide-eyed, staring at the group, barely moving with a mixture of excitement and nerves.  
  
"Oh boy," Natasha said slowly "I think he's going to faint,"

* * *

  
  
After some bargaining with Stark, Bucky reappeared in the hall, successful.  
  
"Right, kiddo, Stark's going to have a talk with your mom and dad, and then we're going to get a brand new prosthetic, on us, and you can choose what it looks like and what patterns on it. How does that sound?" Bucky said to the boy, who then ran as much as he could to Bucky and wrapping his arms around his waist.  
  
"Thank you so much, Mr Barnes!" he said, over-joyed.  
  
The rest of the team looked on, small smiles on their lips. Apart from Steve who was beaming like the sun and shaking his head in amazement.  
  
"The school has contacted your parents and asked them to come in, Findlay," Tony said warmly, extending his hand "let's go talk this through,"   
  
Bucky smiled as the boy retracted himself from Bucky's waist.   
  
"Go gettem kid," Bucky encouraged  
  
Findlay smiled and the bounded over to Tony, grasping his hand.  
  
"Thank you!" He shouted as he left the hall, waving his hand frantically, the huge smile still plastered on his face.  
  
The four Avengers watched at Findlay left, and then turned to Bucky.  
  
"Well that was out of character," Clint said suddenly, his face contorted into confusion "what's got into you, Sarge?"  
  
Bucky shrugged "I guess I just wondered what Steve'd do and went from there,"  
  
Steve got up immediately and walked over to his boyfriend.  
  
"Goddam, Buck, you'll never stop surprising me," he whispered before pulling Steve down for a long kiss. After a couple of minutes, they ran out of breath, they pulled away, light-headed, Bucky could see tears in Steve's eyes.  
  
"You're the best guy to ever walk this Earth, James Buchanan Barnes," he said, proudly, pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.  
  
"And I still be if I don't die from being hugged to death," Bucky said smiling ironically, loosening the hold of Steve's arms, pretending to gasp for breath.   
  
The three Avengers left sitting on the edge of the stage looked awkwardly around, refusing to acknowledge the sickly-sweet scene before them.  
  
"Well at least we know they'll be great parents," Natasha states  
  
 _Fin_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please kudos or leave a pleasant comment, it all helps me feel like I'm not bombarding you with unwanted stories.
> 
> I've got Tumblr, what a shocker!
> 
> sherlockpond.tumblr.com


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